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TMI Blog1968 (2) TMI 102X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed, nor were any purchase vouchers for the relevant period, viz., 1st April, 1956, to 30th August, 1958, were available to the Sales Tax Officer, Nasik. The Sales Tax Officer, Nasik, therefore, based the estimation of the gross turnover of sales relating to the business on his own visit to the respondent's shop. It appears that the Sales Tax Officer went to the shop of the respondent and observed what was being done in the shop by the respondent for half an hour. The Sales Tax Officer found that during that half an hour the respondent effected sales amounting to Rs. 2-2-9 in respect of the sale of panpattis. The Sales Tax Officer, therefore, estimated the total daily sales of the respondent at Rs. 50 and on that estimate he fixed the gross ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d sells it in that form and does not "manufacture" or "process" any goods. In order to appreciate the rival contentions, it is necessary to understand what the provision of law is. Under section 5(1)(b)(ii), every dealer whose turnover either of all sales or of all purchases made during a year exceeds, in the case of a dealer who produces, collects, extracts, manufactures or processes any goods, Rs. 10,000, is liable to be registered as a dealer and pay tax. Thus, the figure of Rs. 10,000 is material in determining the gross turnover in the case of a person who is alleged to manufacture or process any goods. The short question, therefore, that falls for consideration in this case is-whether the activity of a person like the respondent, who ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n the judgment of the Tribunal. According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, at page 1808, one of the meanings given to the word "process" as a verb is as follows: "To subject to a particular method, system, or technique of preparation, handling, or other treatment designed to effect a particular result: put through a special process: ....." It is, thus, clear that one of the meanings that can be given to the word "process" is to subject to a particular method or technique or preparation, handling, or other treatment designed to effect a particular result. Now, what a pan-shop dealer does is to prepare an article like the vida or pan out of several articles. It was suggested that what he does is merely mixing of several artic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ld that he is a dealer whose activity falls within the provisions of section 5(1)(b)(ii) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953. Our attention was however invited by the learned counsel for the assessee to a decision of this Court in Nilgiri Ceylon Tea Supplying Co. v. The State of Bombay[1959] 10 S.T.C. 500. In that case the assessee who was a registered dealer in tea purchased in bulk diverse brands of tea and without the application of any mechanical or chemical process mixed up the brands of tea so purchased and sold the tea as a tea mixture. The mixing was not haphazard but according to a formula evolved by them. The Sales Tax Authorities held that the tea had been processed or altered after the purchase within the meaning of the proviso t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rticles. Betel-nuts, betels, lime and kattha and other articles lose their identity. In fact the final article produced is quite a different article from its components. An elaborate procedure is to be gone into and as found by the Sales Tax Officer, it took about 2 minutes to prepare the vida. Therefore, the article produced by the respondent can reasonably be said to be processed goods. We must, therefore, hold that in making vidas, the respondent was engaged in the activity of processing goods. It is not necessary, as far as we can see, that in the processing of an article within the meaning of this section, there must be use of mechanical force in particular cases. Even the use of manual force or use of the hand may lead to the same res ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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